Textile spools for the carrying of wound filament material comprise a hollow tube with large-diameter end flanges secured to each end thereof, and are known as jack spools. Such jack spools include a pair of shafts which extend from each end of the tube, and which shafts are adapted to be placed in means to provide for the winding or unwinding of filament material onto or from the hollow tube. The hollow tube commonly comprises a reinforced cardboard tube, and may also be an aluminum tube or plastic tube. After winding of a filament material onto the hollow tube, the jack spool, with the material therein, is removed and unwound. However, after a portion of the filament material has been unwound, the residue is often found to be tangled, and the present practicre is to employ a sharp cutting knife to cut or to remove otherwise the residual or tangled filament material from the hollow tube, so that the hollow tube may be reused in the winding/rewinding process. After a period of use, the hollow tube, due to the damage inflicted by the cutting knife, must be discarded. Further, the employment of a cutting knife for the removal of the residual filament material constitutes a safety hazard to the user.
It is also desirable to have a means of quickly and effectively removing one or both flange elements from the hollow tubes; that is, to place the spool in a disassembled condition, so that the residual filament may be easily removed and the hollow tubes with the filament material may be kept or be easily removed for reuse, and to assemble quickly the textile spool; that is, to place the spool in an assembled condition ready for use. One improved textile spool which is easily and quickly assembled and disassembled is disclosed in my copending patent application U.S. Ser. No. 697,423, filed June 18, 1976, hereby incorporated by reference.
Another method of stripping textile fibers from a textile spool is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,686,953 to A. J. Pike, wherein a removable head or plug assembly is employed at one end of a spool. The removable head is secured in an assembled condition by positioning a tension-biased ball in an annular depression in the hollow tube. The method and assembly described are not wholly satisfactory, since they do not permit the removable head end of the spool to be shaft-driven.